Angie bounches back but Indonesia loses in Fed Cup playoffs
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Angelique 'Angie' Widjaja recovered from a dismal opening day on Saturday to make short work of Anca Barna, but her convincing 6- 3, 6-1 win on Sunday failed to lift Indonesia over Germany in their Federation Cup play-off.
Indonesia fell short of reaching the World Group, losing 3-2 in the two-day competition at the Senayan tennis stadium.
Trailing the visiting team by two matches after the opening matches on Saturday, Angie gave the home side hope of a turnaround after her dispatch of Barna in the first of the two reverse singles matches on Sunday.
While Barna admitted to being physically drained after her tiring three set win of Wynne Prakusya on the opening day, Angie said she had overcome her jitters.
"I just relaxed, not like the day before when I was too tense. I guess I recovered and played my best," Angie said.
However, it proved a short-lived jubilation for the home side as Wynne crashed to a 4-6, 6-2, 3-6 defeat to Barbara Rittner to give the Germans an insurmountable 3-1 lead.
Wynne's loss left the team wringing their hands over what could have been given that Rittner was troubled by her nagging foot injuries.
"I must admit I'm disappointed by the results, particularly because Wynne had a chance of winning her match to level the score," non-playing captain Suzanna Anggarkusuma told a media conference.
"It seems that Wynne was just too nervous. I was a player myself so I can feel what Wynne endured in the progress of the match.
"With such a daunting task and when we see a seemingly imminent chance for a crucial win, it hurts when it turns out we were too overwhelmed by the ambition and the win slips out of our grasp," she said.
The German team looked relieved at the win, which means it stays in the World Group for next year's competition while Indonesia is put back where it started in the regional competition to have any chance at a possible shot at the playoffs.
"It was a tense and close game against Indonesia out there. But at the end of the day we are happy that we staye in the World Group," team captain Klaus Eberhard said.
On the hot sun-baked court at midday, Rittner had to battle her nagging injuries against Wynne in the match, during which she protested several dubious line calls and at one point had a terse chat with the umpire which ended with her banging her racket on the umpire's chair.
"It was a tiring match, a real see-saw battle. In the second set, I had problems with my injuries. They were old injuries coming back again. In the third set, I tried to be aggressive like I was in the first set," said Rittner.
Angie and Wynne played out the string by beating Vanessa Hanke and Angelika Roesch 6-2, 6-2 in the doubles later in the day.